I found this a few days ago while I was perusing through the massive amounts of stuff out on the web about bharatanatyam. It’s a cute little facebook group, but I think it is nice to see the light and funny side of bharatanatyam. When you are practicing and preparing you have to be so focused that it is nice to take a step back and be amused by all the silly things about bharatanatyam (and I’m sure other Indian classical dances can draw from this list). It’s a bit long, but I found it very amusing. Feel free to add your own theories in the comments!

(And I love how it ties into my blog title!)

You Know You’re A Bharatanatyam Dancer When…

You have a certain place in your house devoted to your Bharat Natyam stuff
You have pony tails with fake hair longer than your own.
You’ve had bruises on your feet from ghoongro before
You think its normal that your head weighs more than the rest of your body when you dance
You know what fake flowers made out of paper look like
You know exactly where every piece of your jewelry goes
Your skin becomes 6 shades lighter when you perform because of makeup
You have worn kajal and pancake before
You’ve substituted blush with lipstick
You have a red sharpie just for bharat natyam
You have red nail polish just for bharat natyam
You have special makeup just for bharat natyam that is lighter and brighter than normal makeup
Your first time wearing makeup was thanks to bharat natyam
It takes you 1/2 an hour to put your fan on
You know what a fan is
You know what “half sitting” is
You can be smiling one minute during a jaathi one minute, and be portraying heartbroken radha the next.
You know what a jaathi is
You have chanlos that are specially for bharatnatyam
You can recognize the taal of any music
You know how to wear a bharatnatyam dress/you know what shoulder the sari goes over
Your ultimate goal is to make your teacher cry at your arangetram
You know what an Arangetram is
You’ve spent more money on makeup than on a shirt at the mall
You have makeup devoted to dance
All your dance makeup is waterproof
You have an uncountable number/types of eyeliner
You know the difference between naang and temple jewelry
You know the different kinds of fan styles (cross fan, skirt, three tier, one tier, the three tier that has a fake fan on the butt piece)
You know the pose of each god thanks to bharat natyam
When you’re out with your friends, a lot seems to relate back to bharat natyam
You know how Krishna grew up thanks to bharat natyam
You know the difference between each god
You can say words like “Mridangam”
You know what a mridangam is.
The phrase “did ith thai” makes sense to you
You can balance for a long time
Your thighs are amazing (from all that half sitting) [thunder thighs]
You can figure out the meaning of the dance even though u don’t know the language by the mudras
You know what mudras are
You find the music very soothing
You catch yourself either humming or singing bharat natyam songs
You catch urself going thru dances in the middle of math class in ur head
You know the importance of Varnams
You can do a thirty minute dance-nooo problemm
You know its impossible to get ready for a performance on your own.
You dance down the hallway instead of walking.
You refer to a crowd as an “audience” and half-time as “intermission.”
Every floor is a dance floor
In any dance, you pay close attention to facial expression and choreography
Nail Polish is not restricted to nails…you also put nailpolish on your fingertips and palms.